Condensor Fans

[RageRover]

Gotta question about the two condensor fans right behind the grille of the truck. Now, I had always wondered why they didn't turn on when I hit the A/C button. So a few days ago, I pulled the brush gaurd, grille, and spent a half hour getting the condensor fans out. I tested to see if there was power going through the wires to the fans, and sure enough there was 12V, but fans were not turning, both of them would not kick on.

So I tried to take the fans apart, but that didn't work too well, I ended up striping the screws on each fan. Luckily I happened to have a condensor fan off a Mazda 4 door I think it was, and it still worked. I spliced some connectors to the wires on the new-used fan and connected it to the stock plug, and got it to work, when both the engine gets warm, and when the A/C button gets pushed.

So my question is does this fan really make the difference of whether I overheat or not? It seemed to keep things in the norm for a few days now.

[choffa@comcast.net]

If you idle for extended periods, the fans will prevent an overheat. They come on with the AC to increase flow across the condensor. The AC system will overheat (overpressure) more quickly than the engine at idle. Some other vehicles are more prone to overheating than the Rover (massive radiator).

[OkieRover]

^^^^x2

[ryanc8514]

i left my car idling with the air conditioning on about 8 months ago and it hasnt worked since...i just recharged the system with some R12 that my friend got me and it still isnt cold, i probably need to put more in but i dont have a guage to measure the pressure...after i turn off the air conditioning i can hear a hissing for a couple seconds then it dies down...did i overpressure the system?

[sven]

The only way you know if its under/overcharged is if you have a gauge.

[choffa@comcast.net]

Hissing is normal, pressure is equalizing across the expansion valve, no worries. On top of the receiver/dryer on the right inner fender is a sight glass. Clean it off & watch it as the compressor cycles. You may see a stream of bubbles for a few seconds after the compressor starts. It should then be a solid stream of liquid (no bubbles). If you have bubbles the charge is low.

Another thing to check is the thermostat on the heater control panel. There is a link from the temp control lever that operates a thermostatic switch for the AC. My link was disconnected, popped it back on & the AC temp dropped dramatically.

[ryanc8514]

i couldnt find the sight glass, could u please give a better description of where to find it? thanks

[choffa@comcast.net]

On the top of this guy. Mounted on the right inner fender directly above the wheel. Hose in & out, a small tangle of wires on the switches. Glass is small about the size of a pencil eraser.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/BTR3717.cfm

[ryanc8514]

ok, well i got my a/c filled with some r12 fluid yesterday and noticed my left condensor fan was spinning slow..the engine was idling about 15 min an the a/c was on max while the fluid was filling and when i turned off my engine the coolant started spraying out of the tank...today i drove for about 15 min with the a/c on and when i turned off the engine the coolant leaked out again...does anyone kno whats goin on?

[RageRover]

You're referring to the green ethylene coolant right Ryan? Just wanna be sure, I had the same problem and thanks to TerryS and his instructions fo make this awesome little rig to fill the cooling system, coolant didn't bubble out of my Expansion Tank.

The condensor fans, from what I observed, is that they come on, when the temp. of the engine's coolant is getting warm, and the fans come on to assist the engine driven fan to cool the radiator. Also another time the fans come on, right from a cold start up, is when I hit the A/C button, the fans come on.

Now my original fans were dead and I ended up pulling apart the front end to replace them with one I had sitting around, and it works like a charm.

I think that if my condesor fan was not working from the start, that it being dead, contributed to my overheating, along with the air pocket that was trapped in my motor, and TerryS' rig worked flawlessly. And like he said, I only had to do it once.

The problem you stated above, sounds exactly like what happened to me, so I just thought I would post some things I did that releived overheating and got my condesor fans back.